The present invention relates to a heating device and in particular to a forced convection heat exchanger for use in warming baby bottles and the like.
Milk, infant formula, and similar foods for infants and young babies should preferably be furnished at body temperature (i.e., approximately 99.degree. F.). Accordingly, when milk or infant formula is taken from a refrigerator, it must be heated prior to serving. Virtually every parent has gone through the procedure of sprinkling a few drops of milk from a heating bottle onto the back of his or her wrist to determine that the milk is at the proper temperature for baby. It is obviously desirable to bring the food from its refrigerator temperature to serving temperature as quickly as possible.
Heretofore, various devices have been available to facilitate warming such refrigerated foods. In the main, these devices rely on directly heating water to raise the temperature of the baby food to the desired temperature. The principal drawbacks of such devices have been:
1. They rely on an electric coil or other heating device which necessitates that the device can only be used where there is power available; PA1 2. Unless carefully watched, the food container can overheat, boil and possibly spoil. This is particularly true in the case of milk, which, if boiled, will tend to "skim"; PA1 3. Plastic bottles can be melted; PA1 4. Hot gases rising from the stove may make the top of the bottle and nipple very hot while the milk inside the bottle is still cold. PA1 5. The devices have been relatively expensive.
It is because of the above that many parents have relied simply on placing a baby bottle in a pan of hot water taken directly from the tap and permitting the bottle to heat up in the water. The principal drawback of this method is that it takes a relatively long time for the bottle to heat up. Also, if the tap water is not sufficiently warm, the cold baby bottle can cool the water to below body temperature so that the bottle will never heat up to the desired temperature.
In view of the above, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide an improved heat exchanger particularly designed for warming a baby bottle or the like which overcomes each of the above noted objections of prior art devices.
A further object is to provide such a device which is relatively simple to manufacture, inexpensive to purchase, simple to operate, and completely passive in operation.